Jin Feng washed his hands, and Run Niang had already brought the meal to the table.
Eager to return home, Jin Feng had been travelling all day, barely eating, and was now famished. Without hesitation, he picked up the bowl and began to eat.
He ate two bowls in a row before stopping.
Run Niang cleared the dishes, and the night shift female workers started arriving.
The small courtyard became lively again.
Many people came over to ask Jin Feng about his recent experience in the war.
Satisfied after eating, Jin Feng had other things on his mind. Looking at the increasingly charming Guan Xiao Rou, how could he be bothered to chat with a group of older women?
He casually deflected their questions with vague responses.
“Why are you all so clueless? Feng Ge has been away for so long, he must have plenty to talk about with Xiao Rou in private. Why are you lingering here? Don’t you have work to do?” Third Aunt, who had just arrived, quickly grasped the situation and scolded the women with a smile.
“Oh, how did I forget about that? No wonder Feng Ge isn’t interested in talking to us!”
“Last time my husband went to the county for half a month’s work, he nearly wore me out when he got back. Feng Ge, Xiao Rou is delicate, so take it easy.”
“Let’s go, back to work.”
The older women spoke more bluntly than the last, leaving Guan Xiao Rou too embarrassed to lift her head.
Tang Dong Dong gave the two a suggestive glance and took Xiao E away.
Run Niang, very tactfully, prepared a bucket of bathwater and placed it in the east room before heading to the straw shed.
Only Jin Feng and Guan Xiao Rou remained in the main room.
“Ha, Run Niang is getting more sensible,” Jin Feng said with a laugh as he closed the door.
Knowing Guan Xiao Rou was still shy, he stopped teasing her and went to the east room on his own.
In the open space of the east room stood a large wooden bathtub, still smelling of tung oil, likely purchased recently.
After a dusty journey, a good bath was indeed needed.
As he finished undressing, Guan Xiao Rou entered.
“Not shy anymore?” Jin Feng teased with a smile.
“You’re my husband, what’s there to be shy about?” Guan Xiao Rou replied, blushing but defiant.
“Shall we bathe together then?”
“Stop it!” Guan Xiao Rou playfully swatted away his wandering hand, picked up a cloth, and began scrubbing his back.
But as they washed, she was pulled into the bathtub.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and at their passionate age, they had already been teased. Guan Xiao Rou let go of her reservations, eagerly expressing her longing for Jin Feng.
They didn’t stop until midnight.
Jin Feng was still not entirely satisfied, but he had to stop as the night shift workers were arriving for their midnight meal.
He could even hear their giggles from under the window.
Guan Xiao Rou, panting, lay on Jin Feng’s chest, drawing circles with her finger and giggling.
“Isn’t the tiled house finished yet?” Jin Feng asked, a bit无奈ly.
Counting the time on the road, his trip to Wei Zhou had taken over two months. The tiled house should have been completed by now, so why were the female workers still working in the straw shed?
Wasn’t this delaying his plans?
“The factory building is done, but the house we’ll live in isn’t finished yet. Dong Dong said we’d move once everything is complete,” Guan Xiao Rou explained.
“Dong Dong did the right thing,” Jin Feng said.
The new courtyard he had planned included not only a textile workshop and a blacksmith’s shop but also a small residence for themselves.
The workshop and blacksmith’s shop only needed four walls and a roof, simple structures that were finished long ago.
But the house they would live in required separate rooms, a more complex process, so it was taking longer.
With him away and no man in the house, if the workshop moved, only a few girls would be left at home, which wouldn’t be safe.
With the textile workshop there, day or night, the house was full of people, keeping petty thieves like Xie Guang at bay.
“How much is left to finish the house?”
“I saw Liang Ge delivering the green tiles today. It should be ready for the beams in a couple of days,” Guan Xiao Rou said. “Once the new house is done, can we move into the tiled house?”
“Of course.”
“I never thought I’d live in a tiled house one day,” Guan Xiao Rou said excitedly, her eyes sparkling as she lay on Jin Feng’s chest.
“A tiled house is nothing. You’ll live in even better houses in the future,” Jin Feng said with a smile.
“What could be better than a tiled house?” Guan Xiao Rou asked curiously.
In an era where most people struggled to eat, the vast majority lived in low, flimsy thatched houses.
Thatched houses were easily damaged by wind and rain, requiring the straw to be replaced every few years to prevent leaks.
If the adobe walls got soaked, they needed replacing too, a significant expense for many.
In Guan Xiao Rou’s mind, a tiled house, impervious to rain and wind, was the best house in the world.
“Besides tiled houses, there are grand courtyards. Haven’t you been to Qing Feng Villa?” Jin Feng said with a smile. “Aren’t the houses there much better than a tiled house?”
“Qing Feng Villa is for lords. I’m content with living in a tiled house in my lifetime,” Guan Xiao Rou said, satisfied.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you live in a house even better than Qing Feng Villa,” Jin Feng said confidently.
“What could be better than Qing Feng Villa?” Guan Xiao Rou asked skeptically. “Don’t say the palace. No matter how much money you have, no one dares build a house bigger than the palace.”
“A house doesn’t have to be bigger to be better,” Jin Feng said, stroking her back. “The house I’ll build will have large windows made of transparent crystal to keep out wind and rain, keeping the rooms bright whether it’s sunny or rainy.
The floors will be laid with marble so polished you can see your reflection, with iron pipes buried underneath. In winter, we’ll run hot water through them to keep the whole house warm.
I’ll also include a small room for bathing, so you won’t need to go to another room to wash or use the toilet…”
Jin Feng described modern housing, sharing his vision with Guan Xiao Rou.
She listened, entranced. “Is there really such a house?”
“There is.”
“Dong Dong said crystals are expensive. How much would it cost to make windows from them? And are there even crystals that big?”
“There aren’t now, but there will be,” Jin Feng said, a glint in his eyes.
In Da Kang, there was no glass; windows were covered with paper, which was also costly, so most people couldn’t afford it.
To block wind and rain, most thatched houses had no windows. Even wealthy families with tiled houses only left small ventilation holes near the beams.
Qing Feng Villa followed this pattern.
No matter the season, houses were dimly lit, and closing the door made it hard to see even in daylight.
The first time Jin Feng visited Qing Feng Villa, he thought of glass.
